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Spanish (Structured Research Masters)

Structured Master of Arts (Spanish)

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Course Overview
Research Areas
Course Fees
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Course Overview

The Structured Master’s is a one-year full-time (or two-year part-time) programme designed to provide students with the opportunity to further their interest in specialist areas of academic study and research. This course provides high-achieving graduates with an opportunity to gain a broader and deeper knowledge of their chosen area of research and to familiarise themselves with the research methodologies and ethics relevant to the discipline.

Research in this area may encompass a range of topics relating to modern Spanish and Latin American literature, cinema, and culture; it can also include study of linguistics and lexicography or issues relating to translation between Spanish and English.

Over the course of the programme, students will take between 30 to 35 ECTS worth of taught modules, at least one of which (minimum 5 ECTS) must be dedicated to research methods/integrity. Other taught modules will normally be discipline- or area-specific and designed to augment students’ existing knowledge in their specialist area. The modules taken by each student will be decided in direct consultation with their research supervisor.

Students will complete an independent research project or dissertation weighted at either 55 or 60 ECTS (depending on the number of ECTS devoted to taught modules). Each student will be assigned a primary supervisor and a graduate research committee made up of experienced researchers to plan their programme of study and to provide on-going support for their research.

Programmes Available

Structured Masters
Duration: 1 year (full-time); 2 years (part-time)
(10 places available.)

Associated

Learning Outcomes

Entry Requirements

Second Class Honours NQAI Level 8 degree or equivalent (, with Second Class Honours, Grade 1 or equivalent in Spanish.

A minimum IELTS score of 6.5 (or equivalent) is required of applicants whose first language is not English.

Who’s Suited to This Course

Current research projects

CITN—Children in Translation Network: Community of PR actioners and researchers, currently producing teaching and learning materials for the study of children in translation of children's/YA fiction and YouTube Channel to upload 2021/22 seminar lecture series.
Proyecto EstudiantELE—European Language Label 2020: Interviews with Spanish graduates giving voice to students and producing authentic non-native Spanish materials highlighting the learning process through L2.
Projects on translation.

Current funded research opportunity

Work Placement

Related Student Organisations

Career Opportunities

Find a Supervisor / PhD Project

If you are still looking for a potential supervisor or PhD project or would like to identify the key research interests of our academic staff and researchers, you can use our online portal to help in that search

Research Areas

We are able to provide research supervision on a wide range of topics related to Spanish and Latin American language, literature and culture, and we particularly welcome applications from those hoping to pursue work in the following areas:

Hispanic translation studies, including the translation of Children’s Literature
Contemporary Latin American literature, especially contemporary Mexican literature and film
Spanish language teaching and learning

Students with an interest in any of the above areas are encouraged to make contact with the relevant researcher(s), whose specialist areas are detailed in the ‘Research Profiles’ section below.

Researcher Profiles

Dr Mel Boland—Contemporary Latin American Literature, particularly the work of Isabel Allende and Roberto Bolaño; the use of gesture in literature; Translation Studies.

Dr Pilar Alderete—Spanish language teaching and learning; the exploration of children's identity in the translation of children’s fiction.

Dr Lorna Shaughnessy—Spanish, Mexican and Central American poetry of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, with a special interest in Nicaraguan poetry; political poetry from Central America, including women's political participation in the region; popular culture.

Dr Lorraine Kelly—Contemporary Mexican literature.

Dr Kate Quinn—Chilean crime fiction; comparative crime fiction; Chilean history, memory and politics.

Dr Ivan Kenny—Exile and political engagement in Latin American fiction; activism in Mexican cinema; spatiality in Mexican literature and cinema.

Ms Begoña Sangrador Vegas—Basque literature and cinema; business Spanish; contemporary Spain.

Course Fees

Fees: EU

€7,750 p.a. (€7,890 including levy) 2025/26

Fees: Non EU

€19,000 p.a. (€19,140 including levy) 2025/26

Extra Information

EU Part time: Year 1 €4,000 p.a. (€4,140 including levy) 2025/26

For 25/26 entrants, where the course duration is greater than 1 year, there is an inflationary increase approved of 3.4% per annum for continuing years fees.

Postgraduate students in receipt of a SUSI grant – please note an F4 grant is where SUSI will pay €4,000 towards your tuition (2025/26). You will be liable for the remainder of the total fee. A P1 grant is where SUSI will pay tuition up to a maximum of €6,270. SUSI will not cover the student levy of €140.